10-Year-Old Filmmaker Sues for Control

Child actors are crowding the headlines these days. Some kids are in the news for controversy, some kids are in the news for big achievements, and then there's Dominic Scott Kay, who is somewhere in the middle of the good and the bad. Kay, who provided the voice of "Wilbur" in the recent Charlotte's Web, directed and starred in a short film called Saving Angelo back when he was only 9 years-old. Now, at 10, he's in a legal battle to regain creative control of the film and to get it shown.

The short, which also stars Kay's Loverboy co-star/director Kevin Bacon, is reportedly being held back by one of its producers, Conroy Kanter, who financed the $11,000 film. Kay claims that if it weren't for Kanter, Saving Angelo could have screened at Sundance this month, or even last year. It also missed out on being shown at the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival last September. Apparently the main issue with the control dispute stems from who should gain from the picture, and according to Kanter's lawyers it is actually Kay's greedy mother who is behind the lawsuit. Kanter's plan, supposedly, is to donate any profits to an animal rescue charity.

Considering it is a short film, which isn't likely to generate a substantial amount of money, I don't see the big deal. Put the thing on YouTube and call it a day. Or at least let it be finished and screened for the studios so that Kay can start a career directing features. I'm sure he'll have plenty of work in the next eight years, prior to reaching the age of independence, for everyone to milk. Just let the kid show his movie.